Bonus Blog Fiction: Blood Music

His black claws click-clack on cobblestones as he paces in the dark alley behind the theater. Anticipation waters his mouth and sends rivulets of slobber down the sides of his grey muzzle.

The door opens, and he take off at a full run. The alley will soon be crowded with humans, and he cannot afford to be choosy. He will take whatever comes out of the door first.

The girl steps around the swinging door, her blonde head craned back and raised to look at someone behind her. She hears his claws and starts to turn her head, but she never sees him before he barrels into her. He rams her with his head, and she goes flying up the alley soundlessly. Stunned by the impact, the child drops on the pavement and rolls without crying.

In the theater, voices scream as the humans catch a glimpse of him passing the open theater doors. His ancestors might have foolishly gone into the theater for a grand feast. But he is wiser, choosing to pick off weaker targets from the edges of the herd.

He lowers his head and opens his mouth as he approaches the child. He snaps her calf, gripping the shin between his fangs to drag his meal away. Blood spills into his mouth, and then the girl starts to scream.

Her cries come from the savage bite wound, but her voice becomes shrill as her shirt rises and exposes her back to the cobblestone street. Her skin is rubbed away in seconds, leaving a wet smear that shines under the streetlamps.

He jumps, rising with a blurring speed. His path carries him into the side of a building, and through a plate glass window. He curls his limbs around his victim, taking the full impact of the glass himself. He isn’t being merciful; he simply likes the feeling of pain that shoots through his limbs.

The office is empty and dark, but that would not last long. He drops the girl on the desk and stands on his hind legs so she can see him better. He raises his arms and spreads out his fingers, knowing the effect his silhouette has on humans.

He’s in luck tonight, and he’s taken a singer. In spite of her wounds, the girl screams. She has a beautiful voice, and her terrified screeching makes his mouth water.

He will need to take her slowly, to make sure she keeps screaming.

She isn’t going anywhere with her injuries, but he still pins her arm and leg to the dark wood surface. He knows from experience that she will writhe when he bites her.

The girl is no different from any of his victims as his teeth rip through the flesh over her ribs. She keens in agony, and spasm shake her tortured frame.

He keeps her arm and leg held taut, preventing her from moving away while his fangs rake over the bones to strip her flesh. The meat is juicy with her hot blood, and he has to fight the urge to snap the bones and taste her marrow. Only the power of her gorgeous voice keeps him from killing her right away.

He realizes that it is true what the humans say: music could soothe a savage beast.